Image enhancement using a range gated MCPII video system with a 180-ps FWHM shutter

摘要

The video image of a target submerged in a scattering medium was improved through the use of range gating techniques. The target, an Air Force resolution chart, was submerged in 18 in. of a colloidal suspension of tincture green soap in water. The target was illuminated with pulsed light from a Raman shifted, frequency-doubled, ND:YAG laser having a wavelength of 559 mm and a width of 20 ps FWHM. The laser light reflected by the target along with the light scattered by the soap, was imaged onto a microchannel-plate image intensifier (MCPII). The output from the MCPII was then recorded with a RS-170 video camera and a video digitizer. The MCPII was gated on with a pulse synchronously timed to the laser pulse. The relative timing between the reflected laser pulse and the shuttering of the MCPII determined the distance to the imaged region. The resolution of the image was influenced by the MCPII's shutter time. A comparison was made between the resolution of images obtained with 6 ns, 500 ps and 180 ps FWHM (8 ns, 750 ps and 250 ps off-to-off) shutter times. it was found that the image resolution was enhanced by using the faster shutter since the longer exposures allowed light scattered by the water to be recorded too. The presence of scattered light in the image increased the noise, thereby reducing the contrast and the resolution.